The month of May (when the Sun was eclipsed) in the 585th year before the first year of Christ, which was a leap-year, fell in the latter end of the third year of the 48th Olympiad; and the fourth year of that Olympiad began at the Summer Solstice following: but perhaps Mr. Smith begins the years of the Olympiad from January, in order to make them correspond more readily with Julian years; and so reckons the month of May, when the Eclipse happened, to be in the fourth year of that Olympiad.
The Place or Longitude of the Sun at that time was ♉ 29° 43ʹ 17ʺ, to which same place the Sun returned (after 2300 years, viz.) A. D. 1716, on May, 9d. 5h. 6m. after noon: so that, with respect to the Sun’s place, the 9th of May, 1716 answers to the 28th of May in the 585th year before the first year of Christ; that is, the Sun had the same Longitude on both those days.
[71]. Before Christ 413, August 27.
[72]. Before Christ 168, June 20.
[73]. Struyk’s Eclipses are to the Old Style, all the rest to the New.
[74]. This Eclipse happened in the first year of the Peloponnesian war.
[75]. Although the Sun and Moon are spherical bodies, as seen from the Earth they appear to be circular planes, and so would the Earth if it were seen from the Moon. The apparently flat surfaces of the Sun and Moon are called their Disks by Astronomers.
[76]. A Digit is a twelfth part of the diameter of the Sun and Moon.
[77]. This is the same with the annual Argument of the Moon.
[78]. When the Romans divided the Empire, which was about 38 years before Christ, Spain fell to Augustus’s share: in memory of which, the Spaniards dated all their memorable events ab exordio Regni Augusti; as Christians do from the birth of our Saviour. But in process of time, only the initial letters AERA of these words were used instead of the words themselves. And thus, according to some, came the word ÆRA, which is made use of to signify a point of time from whence historians begin to reckon.